Where
adoption used to be #2 on the list of choices when it came
to having children, the advent of readily available drug-based
fertility therapies and in-vitro fertilization, as well
as the growth of surrogate mothering arrangements, has
increased vastly the number of parents who just 20 years
ago had adoption as their only means for building a family.
As a result, domestic adoptions are down nearly 30% since
the mid-1970s.

Second,
the acceptance and growth of surrogate mothering arrangments
for couples who wish to adopt newborns, is a factor. Though
technically still